The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-09-22

lows gli-tening lakes; but grander than
all rise the mountains trough with crags,"
ridge piled on ridge, motionless green
ocean, stretching far away to where the
true ocean breaks at their feet, and the
blue sky slopes to meet it. They keep the
last rays of sunset; the star of evening
shines brightest just above their smmits;
they reach forward into the morning to
catch the first faint glimmerings of the
dawn. The old missions are all among
the mountains and the mountains embody
the genius of the spirit that reared these
solitary temples. Firmness, simplicity and
spirituality characterize both the one and
the other. The hoary peaks whose en-
during grandeur and massive sublimity
are lifted above the dank vapors and tenn
porary blasts of the regions below, are
appropriate symbols of the stability and
serenity of the consecrated lives that
were spent on their submits, Mt
mausoleums for the lonely tombs that are
spread along their rocky slopes. The
vanities of life are like the mists that curl
around the hills in the morning and at
noon are vanished; "but the word of the
Lord endnreth forever" Next to the
frmness and simplicity of the mountains
is their spiritualizing power. Under their
influence the sim pulses of deeper birth"
come strongest to the soul; their sum
mits are oftenest touched and glorified
| by
| ''The light that never was on land or sea,
| The cOneecration and the poets dream"
Was there no appropriateness, no signifi
canoe in the location of these ancient
missions among such companions? Sur
rounded by such mentors and inspired by
such Influences, what wonder if the old
priests were the men they were. From
such q presence the vain strivings OF
earthly ambition, the fruitless dreams of
popular renown and worldly power, shrank
away abashed and paltry, yielding to the
silent majesty of glory whose bright
ness came from sense of sacred duty
performed of holy mission executed.
While the less daring and restless monks
of Europe were delving in cloistered Sc
clusion and discharging their ordained
and consecrated obligations to thank
less and jeering world, these their more
adventurous brethren left the noisy
throng4 of the busy continent for new
fields in the lands across the sea. Driven,
some by disappointed hopes, blasted love,
ruined honor or defelted ambition, some
impelled by the enthusiasm of newly
kihdled zeal, they came to bury past
memories in the generous bosom of the
wilderness and to find new aims and purer
aspirations among the mountains and val
leys of a virgin continent. Wearied with
turmoil and strife, grteved at the dearth
of noble souls, they sought
"a philosophers life in the quiet woodland ways
Where If they could not be gay, a passi0nlest
peace was their lot"
And they found it in guiding the children
of the forest along the old familiar paths
of that religion whose tender truths soothe
alike the awe struck spirit of the ignorant
savage and the baffled unrest of the proud
est intellect; in disseminating the arts OF
peace and the gentle precepts of humility
and virtue among dusky coverts; in the
monotonous charm of life, devoid of
worldly hopes and pains, and in the
softened meditations born of restful
submission to the oblivion of former joys
and sorrows. Perhaps they were not al
ways Submissive. In the golden drOwsy
moons and dewy summer nights" there
doubtless flashed across them faint
CLEANS Of the old days, the familiar faces
the long-loved scenes. the forgotten
spIendor OF time vanished forever. Bu'
the inexorable resolution of consecrated
energy suppressed such momenMrJ
awakenings, and the chosen path was not
forsaken by feet which, though often
weary, never faltered nor turned back.
Thus they lived aud thus they passed
away. The world knew little Of then
then, and it has almost forgotten their ex-
istence now.
The same mountains whose inst iratiol
was interviewer with their cegseleFs toll
whose simplicity shore so radjantly IL
their silent lives, ana whose spiritual ex
altstion was resplend 1t in the serene
purity and dispsssiongte tranquility Of
their whole career, are to-day standing
sentinel over their lonely graves and
shadowing, with benignant sorrow, the